Grammar - Elementary

Past Simple "To Be"

To Be - Past
Positive Negative Question
I was I wasn't Was I?
You were You weren't Were you?
He was He wasn't Was he?
She was She wasn't Was she?
It was It wasn't Was it?
We were You weren't Were we?
You were We weren't Were you?
They were They weren't Were they?

Examples:

I was at my friend's house yesterday evening.

Bill Clinton was the President of the U.S. for eight years.
We were very happy to receive your letter last week.

You weren't at home last night.

Alice wasn't at work yesterday because of flu.
They weren't on holiday in August. It was in July.

Where were you at eight o'clock last night?

Was Winston Churchill the British Prime Minister for a long time?
How often were we in that restaurant last month?

Note. To make the negative, add "not" after the verb. To make the question, invert the verb and
the subject.

Past Simple Structure

Positive

Regular Verbs

Subject + Verb + ED or D

Irregular Verbs

Subject + Irregular Verb

Examples:

She worked all last year for a company called Kudos.

I lived in Madrid for a year in the 1990s.

but

She went to work by bus last week.

I wrote him a long letter.

If the verb finishes with "e", just add a "d", otherwise add "ed".

You can find a list of the most common irregular verbs, put in order of frequency of occurence in
English, here.

Negative

Subject + Didn't + Infinitive Verb

Examples:

I didn't want to go to Australia on holiday last year. I wanted to try China.

JFK didn't die in Miami, he died in Florida.
They didn't go out last night after all.

Note. The negative form is the same for all verbs, regular or irregular.

Questions

Question Word + Did + Subject + Infinitive Verb

Examples:

What time did you go to bed yesterday.

How many cups of coffee did he drink during the meeting?
Why did they leave the room?

Past Simple Use

We use the past simple to describe an action which started and finished in the past. Whether the
event was in the near past or distant past is not important in English. In many languages, there is
this distinction!

JFK died in 1963.

The Egyptians invented paper.
I saw a great film last week.
I had muesli for breakfast this morning.

Remember to use the past simple to describe a series of finished events in the past. If you
describe two actions that happen together, you may need to use the past continuous:

Yesterday, I got up at 6, had a shower, went down into the kitchen, sat down and had breakfast.

There are many time expressions which are often used in conjunction with the past simple.

yesterday, last week/month/year, the day before yesterday

a long time ago, when I was young, six months/years/days ago
in 1996, before the war, in the 15th Century

Present Continuous Structure

The present continuous is easy to form. We use the verb "to be" plus the verb in the ____ing
form.

For example:

He is swimming in the river.

They are talking about their holiday.

Here is the verb talk conjugated in the present continuous.

Present Continuous
Positive Negative Question
I am talking I'm not talking Am I talking?
You are talking You're not talking Are you talking?
He is talking He isn't talking Is he talking?
She is talking She isn't talking Is she talking?
It is talking It isn't talking Is it talking?
We are talking We aren't talking Are we talking?
You are talking You aren't talking Are you talking?
They are talking They aren't talking Are they talking?

Note. There are certain spelling changes when verb are put into the continuous form:
Consonants after a vowel are doubled.

get - getting
swim - swimming

Final "e" is dropped.

love - loving
type - typing

Exceptions to these two rules.

A word of more than one syllable with the first syllable stressed does not double the consonant.

visit - visited NOT doubled as first syllable is stressed.

prefer - preferred IS doubled as second syllable is stressed.

be - being final "e" is NOT dropped.

Present Continuous Use

The Present Continuous is used to describe an action that is going on at this moment, at the time
of speaking.

You are using your computer to study the internet.

You are sitting on a chair at the moment.

It is also used to describe an action that is going on during this period of time but not necessarily
at this exact moment.

I am reading a good book about Polish mushrooms.

She is doing a course in flower arranging at the local arts centre.

We can use the Present Continuous to describe an action or event in the future, which has already
been planned or prepared. You should see here for more information on that on this page.

We can use this tense also to describe a temporary event or situation.

He usually goes to work by bus but this week, he is using the train because there is a strike on
the buses.
I am living at my sister's for a month until she has her baby.

Many verbs aren't used in the continuous form

I don't understand what you mean.
NOT I am not understanding....

Verbs like this include: feel, hear, see, smell, taste, believe, consider, doubt, forget, imagine,
know, mean, notice, recognise, remember and understand.

Comparatives and Superlatives

We use comparative and superlative adjectives when we want to compare and contrast things.

Look:

a) India is a big country.

b) Canada is bigger than India.
c) Russia is the biggest country in the world.

Sentence a) uses the base adjective, sentence b) uses the comparative and sentence c) uses the
superlative.

Here is how we form these adjectives:

Comparatives

For Short Adjectives Adjectives Ending "__y" For Long Adjectives

Add '-er' Add '-ier' More/Less ____
Bigger Heavier More beautiful
Longer Prettier Less interesting
Faster Easier More intelligent

Superlative Adjectives

For Short Adjectives Adjectives Ending "__y" For Long Adjectives

Add 'The -est' Add 'The -iest' The Most/Least ____
The biggest The heaviest The most beautiful
The longest The prettiest The least interesting
The fastest The easiest The most intelligent

Examples:

Madrid is bigger than Lisbon but London is the biggest city in Europe.
Your exam was easier than mine. You are always luckier than me!

There are some irregulars:

Good - Better - The Best
Bad - Worse - The Worst
Far - Further - The Furthest

Tina Turner is not the best singer in the world.

But I am worse than her!

We use "as ____ as" to describe things which are equal:

Rome is as hot as Madrid in August.

I am not paid as much as John as he is more experienced.
She ran as far as possible and then stopped.

We can use other expressions before these adjectives to give emphasis.

She is much taller than her husband.

We spent a bit more than expected.
Julia Roberts is fifty times prettier than my sister.
Los Angeles is quite a lot more polluted than San Francisco
etc, etc.

Adverbs
We use some adverbs in English to describe how a verb is performed.

He hit the ball brilliantly.

She speaks French terribly.
They ran down the street quickly.

You can see that we add "-ly" to the end of the adjective root of a word.

The adverb of the adjective bad is badly but the adverb of the adjective good is well.

She played very badly and lost the match.

Her opponent played well and deserved the victory.

Some adjectives and adverbs are spelt the same way: fast, late, hard.

We use other adverbs in English to describe adjectives and other adverbs:

I was terribly sorry to hear about your father's death.

Your mother was incredibly lucky to win the lottery.
They spoke unbelievably well for foreigners.

Adverbs of Frequency
We use adverbs of frequency to describe How Often we do something.

How often does it rain in the Sahara? Rarely.

How often does it rain in Ireland? Often.

100%
Always
^
Almost always
|
Very often
|
Often
|
Frequently
|
Usually
50%
Normally
^
Sometimes
|
Rarely
|
Seldom
|
Almost never
|
Never
0%

Position

Frequency adverbs normally go after the verb "to be" but before other verbs.

Examples:

I am always happy on a Saturday night.

They are often late for class.

She sometimes smokes cigars.

We almost always go to France in May.

Some frequency adverbs such as sometimes, usually and normally can also go at the beginning
and end of a sentence.

Sometimes, Henry takes her to a restaurant at the weekend.

I go to bed at midnight usually.

We sometimes use numbers when we answer How Often.

Q: How often do you play tennis?

A: Three times a week.

Once day
Twice a week
Three times an hour
Four times month
Five times year
etc etc term
etc etc

Or we can use an expression such as:

Once every six months.

Take this medicine once every four hours.

'Going To' and Present Continuous for Future

The future is one area of English grammar that seems to cause so many problems for students
learning English.

One way of expressing the future is to use " be going to" plus the infinitive of the verb:

She is going to visit her uncle in Monaco next summer.

Another, with a near identical meaning, is the present continuous which we covered earlier:

She is buying a house near Paris before the end of the year.

You can see from these two examples that we are expressing a plan, something we already we
know we are going to do. Something we thought about earlier.

I'm going into town tomorrow. I already have my ticket.

They are going to do a computer course together. They signed up today.
I'm seeing Darren tomorrow. We are meeting at ten in the morning.

We also use going to to talk about something we think will happen in the future because of
evidence we see now.

There is going to be a terrible storm. Look at the black sky!

He is going to fail all his exams. He isn't studying at all.

When we talk about something we intended to do in the past, but then changed our minds, we
use was going to.

I was going to ring you, but then I saw I didn't have your number
We were going to play baseball in the park, but then it started to rain.

Prepositions Of Time
Before different time expressions, English uses different prepositions.

On Sunday, I get up at nine o'clock.

In 1999, he came to see me in October.

Here is a summary of prepositions to use with different time expressions:

In At On No Preposition
Yesterday
October Christmas Monday
Last week
1997 the weekend the 21st November
Today
the morning night my birthday
Tomorrow
summer 7 o'clock Christmas Day
Next month

Examples:

Last week, I went to work at nine o'clock every morning.

In summer, especially in July, the beaches here are very busy.
On Thursday, in the morning, I want you to finish that letter.

Whose
We use whose to ask "who owns this?"

Example:

Q: Whose house is this?

A: It's John's house.

In the answer, it is common to use a possessive pronoun.

Q: Whose is this pen?

A: It's mine.

Here is a list of these possessive pronouns:

Possessive Pronouns
I Mine
You Yours
He His
She Hers
It Its
We Ours
You Yours
They Theirs
Whose can also be used alone as a question:

A: I went to work by car.

B: Whose?
A: Mine, of course!

Could
Could is the past tense of Can. The negative is could not or couldn't.

I
You
He/She/It
+ Could / Couldn't + INFINITIVE VERB
We
You
They

Examples:

I could speak French very well when I was young.

My father could drive when he was eighteen, but my mother couldn't.
Could you dance when you were ten or did you learn later?
I couldn't open the window last night, it was frozen closed!

Could is also a modal verb and can be used to make polite requests.

Examples:

Could you tell me the time, please?

Could I borrow the newspaper for just a minute?

Present Simple For Future

The Present Simple can be used to talk about scheduled future events, often related to
timetables. We used the present simple as the event is considered "fixed" and unlikely to change
time/place.

Examples:

My train leaves at 7pm tomorrow and I arrive in Toronto at 9pm.

The conference begins on Monday and finishes on Thursday afternoon.
Bob Palmer retires next year, we have to think about his replacement.

Note: Only use the Present Simple to talk about the future for this type of "timetabled" events.
Contractions
A contraction in English is when two words are joined together and shortened using an
apostrophe. The most common use is for subjects are verbs, especially 'to be' and 'to have'.

Examples:

I'm a builder.
We're not sisters.
They're very unhappy.
We've got three dogs.

Contractions are also used to make negatives in English, using auxiliary verbs such as "do", "be"
and "have".

Examples:

I don't like Mondays!

We aren't very happy today.
My uncle Jack doesn't work anymore.
They haven't been to the museum.

Note: Contractions are not used in short answers.

Q: Are you from Italy?
A: Yes, I am. NOT Yes, I'm.

Be careful how you make the contraction. Usually, the apostrophe takes the place of the vowel.

No, we aren't. NOT No, we are'nt.

Plurals
Generally, most nouns in English are regular and you simply add -s to the word.

car cars
laptop laptops
bottle bottles
wall walls

If the word ends in a s-type sound (s/sh/z/ch, etc), you add -es to the word.

catch catches
kiss kisses
buzz buzzes
watch watches

Most words ending in -y remove the 'y' and add -ies in the plural.

cherry cherries
lady ladies
curry curries

Most words ending in -o add -es in the plural.

potatos potatoes
hero heroes

There are also many irregular plurals which you will need to learn and remember:

child children
woman women
wife wives
sheep sheep
foot feet
tooth teeth
person people

Spelling
Spelling can seem to be very complicated to those studying English. But there are some basic
rules you can follow to make things a little easier:

1. Y as a long "i": The letter Y makes a long sound of I when it comes at the end of a short word
that doesn't have any other vowel.

Examples: by, fly, cry, try, my, hi.

2. Y as a long "e": When 'y' or 'ey' ends a word in an un-stressed syllable, the y has the long
sound of e.

Examples: key, money, honey, many, funny.

3. I before E: The spelling is 'i' before 'e' when the sound is long 'e' except after the letter 'c'.

Examples: relieve, relief, reprieve. Notice the change when there is a c preceding the ie:
deceive, receipt, receive, ceiling, conceive.

4. E before I: Write e before i when the sound is a long 'a'.

Examples: reign, weight, freight.

5. Oi or Oy: Use "oi" in the middle of a word and use "oy" at the end of a word.

Examples: soil, boil, foil, ahoy, boy, toy.

6. Ou or Ow: Use "ou" in the middle of a word and use "ow" at the end of words other than those
that end in n or d.

Examples: house, mouse, mount, borrow, throw, cow.

7. The "ch" sound: At the start of a word, use "ch." At the end of a word, use "tch." When the
"ch" sound is followed by "ure" or "ion", use t.

Examples: champion, choose, pitch, watch, catch, picture, rapture.

8. Double Consonants: When b, d, g, m, n, or p appear after a short vowel in a word with 2

syllables, you should double the consonant: b, d, g, m, n, or p.

Examples: manner, rabbit, dagger, banner, drummer.

9. Short-Vowel Rule: When one-syllable words have a vowel in the middle of the word, the
vowel normally has a short sound:

Examples: hat, mom, dog, cat, dad, got. If the letter after the vowel is f, l, or s, this letter is often
doubled. Examples: staff, ball, pass.

10. Two-Vowels Together: When two vowels are next to each other, the first vowel is usually
long (the sound is the same as the sound of the letter) and the second vowel is silent.

Examples: mean, seam, plain, jeans, rain, goat, road, lie, pie.